Yang Sheng says how can civil servants in London spare the time to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs? UK citizens deserve an explanation

The ongoing wave of social unrest in Europe — fueled by grievances over the high cost of living, severe housing crises, underfunded education systems, and soaring energy prices — has spread to as many as eight countries since it erupted in France in late September.

While temporarily shielded from the protest wave, the United Kingdom is far from being out of the woods. The country is not without its own social issues that could trigger unrest with a single spark.  Indeed, UK media outlets, such as the Independent and the Daily Telegraph, have published warnings wondering if Britain will be next. Flyers have been circulating on social media calling for “Gen Z protests” in London over the cost-of-living crisis. British police are actively monitoring online channels to try to prevent the unrest from crossing the English Channel. The police’s heightened vigilance is justified, given what occurred during the 2011-12 London riots and the summer unrest of 2024.

READ MORE: UK slammed for ‘untruthful remarks’ on HK in 6-monthly report

Instead of spending their precious time and putting British taxpayers’ money to use on tackling the UK’s own social problems, politicians and officials in London have been demonstrating weird enthusiasm in meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs, and keep cooking up a so-called “Hong Kong report” every six months.  

British interference in Hong Kong’s affairs, including the latest “six-monthly report” issued on Thursday, has invariably invoked the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984 as its moral high ground, which is a clumsy sleight of hand.

Such an argument, an awkwardly disguised pretext, is fundamentally faulty as it is based on the self-deceiving pretension that the document awards London a right to interfere in the affairs of post-handover Hong Kong, a special administrative region over which Beijing exercises full jurisdiction.

The underlying argument makes no sense at all to people of average intelligence. There is no way that London retains a say in how Hong Kong should be governed after the city which was looted from China by force in the mid-19th century has returned to China. This is no different to claiming that a robber has a say in how looted goods should be handled after they have been returned to their lawful owner. Such logic or terms can never exist in any agreement or treaty except for those signed at gunpoint. The Sino-British Joint Declaration is definitely not one that was signed at gunpoint. The only explanation is: British politicians and officials are sleepwalking all the way.    

The plain truth is that the Joint Declaration confers neither a right nor any responsibility on the UK over the governance of post-handover Hong Kong. It contains mere declarations by the two sides: China declared its resumption of exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, and its basic policies regarding Hong Kong after its return; whereas the UK declared the handover of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997.

The return of Hong Kong to China was the rightful end to a grave injustice perpetrated by the UK on the Chinese people. British politicians and officials are delusional when they claim that China is in some way accountable to them in governing its own territory, Hong Kong, which is part of China’s internal affairs.

The issuance of unsolicited “reports” every six months on the internal affairs of another jurisdiction is perfectly ridiculous and contravenes international norms and principles; it only reminds the world of the UK’s disgraceful imperialist past and interventionist propensity; it does not serve the UK’s interests. Could British politicians and officials ever imagine a scenario in which a foreign government keeps churning out half-yearly reports on the UK’s domestic affairs?

The six-monthly “reports” issued by the UK Foreign Office in recent years, particularly since the implementation of national security laws in Hong Kong, have invariably hurled slanderous remarks that echoed the tune of China hawks in both Washington and London. The national security laws implemented in Hong Kong in response to the 2019 riots have become the bete noire of those China hawks. They have left no stone unturned to attack the security laws and subsequent enforcement efforts to safeguard national security in Hong Kong, oblivious to the fact that like their own jurisdictions, China has a legitimate right under international law to promulgate laws safeguarding national security in its territory, including Hong Kong.

With a wave of unrest sweeping through Europe and the fire already encroaching on the UK’s own backyard, how can it still afford the luxury of interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs? British citizens deserve an explanation.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.